Week of September 23rdNatural Science Reading Passage-1 For many centuries, scientists and scholars did not question the origin of life on Earth. They accepted the authority of the Book of Genesis, which describes God as the creator of all life. This belief, known as creationism, was supported by observations made by scientists about the everyday world. For instance, organisms seemed well adapted to their environments and ways of life, as if created specifically to fill their roles; moreover, most organisms did not seem to change in any observable manner over time. About two centuries ago, scientists began accumulating evidence that cast doubt on the theory of creationism. As scientists began to explore remote parts of the natural world, they discovered seemingly bizarre forms of life. They also discovered the fossils of animals that no longer existed. These discoveries led scientists to develop new theories about the creation of species. Count George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon was an early pioneer of these new theories, proposing that the species he and his contemporaries saw had changed over time from their original forms. Jean Baptiste Lamarck was another early pioneer. Lamarck proposed ideas involving the mechanisms of use and disuse and inheritance of acquired traits to explain how species might change over time. These theories, though in many ways incorrect incomplete, paved the way for Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution. Although he built on the work of his mentor Leclerc, Lamarck often receives credit for taking the first step toward modern evolutionary theory because he proposed a mechanism explaining how the gradual change of species could occur. Lamarck elaborated on the concept of “change over time,” saying that life originated in simple forms and became more complex. In his 1809 publication of Philosophie Zoologique, he describes the two part mechanism by which change was gradually introduced into species and passed down through generations. His theory is referred to as the theory of transformation or, simply, Lamarckism. The classic example used to explain the concept of use and disuse is the elongated neck of the giraffe. According to Lamarck’s theory, a giraffe could, over a lifetime of straining to reach food on high branches, develop an elongated neck. Although he referred to “a natural tendency toward perfection,” Lamarck could never offer an explanation of how this development could occur, thus injuring his theory. Lamarck also used the toes of water birds as an example in support of his theory. He hypothesized that water birds developed elongated, webbed toes after years of straining their toes to swim through water. These two examples attempted to demonstrate how use could change an animal’s trait. Lamarck also believed that disuse could cause a trait to become reduced in an animal. The wings of penguins, he believed, are smaller than those of other birds because penguins do not fly. The second part of Lamarck’s theory involved the inheritance of acquired traits. Lamarck believed that traits changed or acquired over an individual animal’s lifetime could be passed down to its offspring. Giraffes that had acquired long necks would have offspring with long necks rather than the short necks their parents were born with. This type of inheritance, sometimes called Lamarckian inheritance, has since been disproved by the discovery of hereditary genetics. An extension of Lamarck’s ideas of inheritance that has stood the test of time, however, is the idea that evolutionary change takes place gradually and constantly. Lamarck studied ancient seashells and noticed that the older they were, the simpler they appeared. From this, he concluded that species started out simple and consistently moved toward complexity or, as he said, “closer to perfection.”Questions for Reading Passage-11) Which theory did creationism propose?2) If this is a science-based article, why might you think the author would mention creationism?3) Which theory did Leclerc propose?4) Given the passage, what might you say was Lamarck’s hypothesis toward the theory of evolution?5) According to the reading, what did Lamarck propose was the cause for the changing forms of animals?6) What did the author compare the elongated necks of giraffes to?7) What was the author’s main point throughout this passage? 8) Would the author agree or disagree with the following statement: “Today, giraffes have long necks because early giraffes were required to stretch their necks in order to reach resources located on higher vegetation.” Explain why or why not.

Week of October 14th Natural Science Reading Passage-2 As any diplomat will attest, nuances in language can dramatically affect the success of communication. But because the idiom of human cells was assumed to be much more literal than that of whole people, a recent discovery surprised even the scientists who made it. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) identified a human protein that takes two distinct shapes depending on a subtle difference in its gene that should not make any difference at all. Their finding may explain variations in the chemotherapy response among certain cancer patients and raises new questions concerning so-called silent mutations. Sarfaty and Gottesman were examining a gene called MDR1, which is named for its association with multiple-drug resistance in tumor cells. Specifically, they looked at mutations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MDR1. Some did not change the amino acid sequence encoded by the gene, so the scientists assumed they could have no effect on the final protein. Still, those synonymous SNPs kept showing up in studies of cancer patients, sometimes seeming to influence drug response. “It drew our attention because there were so many reports, and often really contradicting each other,” Sarfaty says, “so we started to explore”. Zeroing in on three particular synonymous mutations, the NCI investigators inserted versions of MDR1 containing those SNPs into human and monkey cells. Because the gene encodes a cell membrane pump which acts to siphon chemotherapies out of tumor cells, the team measured how well the pump was working by adding drugs to the test cells. They noticed reduced function in cells carryon one of the SNPs and then found that the cell membrane pump was abnormally shaped. Further experiments revealed that the protein was also being manufactured more slowly than usual in the cells, which led the researchers to suspect that a phenomenon previously seen only in microbes might be at work. “It came to us that maybe we have a problem of codon usage, and we’re really exhausting the system by expressing lots of MDR1,” Sarfaty recalls. Codons are three-nucleotide sequences within genes that specify amino acids. With 64 possible triplet combinations of the four DNA bases to encode 20 amino acids, multiple codons can share the same amino acid meaning. Different organisms use certain codons more often than alternative synonyms, and such favored usage is reflected in the relative abundance of cellular translators called transfer RNA. Each transfer RNA molecule recognizes a particular codon in a gene transcript and delivers a corresponding amino acid to the ribosome assembling a protein chain. When a rarer codon appears, fewer matching tRNAs are available in the cell, and the ribosome’s operation can slow down. The synonymous mutation in MDR1, the NCI investigators found, created a less common codon. Because the cell membrane pump’s assembly slowed, it folded improperly. The same problem can occur in other microorganisms, such as E.coli and yeast, when they attempt to produce a protein from an inserted gene containing codons the organisms rarely employ. But researchers have also documented cases in which the use of an uncommon codon appears to slow protein manufacture in a way that maximizes efficient folding. Whether those examples reveal a new level of information about the correct final protein structure encoded in the gene sequences remains an open question. David Baker, who studies protein-folding dynamics at the University of Washington, thinks such rare situations are more likely to be just accidents that evolution as ignored. Questions for Reading Passage-21) What were researchers trying to understand about the MDR1 gene?2) What were scientists studying when looking at the mutations in the MDR1 gene?3) Why did scientists believe that some of the mutations within the MDR1 gene could not have previously had any effect on the final protein construction?4) What does the MDR1 gene code for in humans and monkeys?5) What 2 things did researchers discover when analyzing the mutations found on the MDR1 gene?6) What does Sarfaty believe may be causing the problems behind the MDR1 gene?7) What is a codon?8) Which genetic problem are they saying is similar between humans, monkeys, E.coli and yeast?9) After reading this article, do all codon mutations lead to negative consequences? Explain why or why not using examples from the text.

Week of November 4thNatural Science Reading Passage-3 Pam Mitchell knew the maggots were working when her foot started bleeding. Four years ago, a small cut on Mitchell’s left heel turned into a diabetes-related infection two inches wide and down to the bone. Another wound developed in her right food, owing to dry, cracked skin. Doctors tried everything—creams, antibiotics—but nothing worked. “My doctor told me to give it up, see a psychologist, and have my foot amputated,” she recalls. Mitchell, now 52, had to make a decision soon because the powerful antibiotic that doctors prescribed for her infection has also wreaking havoc on her bones. Mitchell was preparing to undergo a dangerous bone marrow transplant when a friend remembered watching a TV show about European doctors using maggots to treat wounds like Mitchell’s. With nothing to lose, she tried it. Mitchell found a dermatologist willing to perform the procedure, and soon had 600 live maggots wriggling inside the wound on her left foot, 400 in her right, where they were sealed in gauze and left for two days. When it came time to remove the maggots, Mitchell’s doctor was more than a little repulsed. “He had never dealt with them before and he said it was like watching a Wes Craven movie,” Mitchell remembers. He was also impressed, because the maggot treatment seemed to be working. Over the course of 10 such treatments, wounds that months of expensive procedures could not mend began to heal. Today, Mitchell walks normally and both wounds are completely healed. She is now a member of the board for the Biotherapeutics Education and Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the medical use of maggots. “They didn’t just save my feet, they saved my life,” Mitchell told LiveScience. “They’re better than anything man can come up with because I’ve tried everything.” A growing number of doctors are starting to agree. Maggots are useful because they help remove dead tissue and expose healthy tissue, a process called debridement. Maggot debridement therapy was popular in the early part of the last century but went out of vogue when antibiotic use became widespread. But maggots are now making a comeback, and they are increasingly being used to treat ulcers, gangrene, skin cancer, and burns. Research also suggests maggots may help decrease the risks of infections after surgery. Maggot therapy is just one example of a medical approach called biotherapy—the use of living animals to aid in medical diagnosis or treatment. Leeches are another example. In ancient times, leeches were used to treat everything from headaches to ear infections to hemorrhoids. Historians think Egyptians used leech therapy 3,500 years ago. The treatments were back in vogue during the Middle Ages, and again in the 1800’s. Nowadays, leeches are routinely used to drain blood from swollen faces, limbs and digits after reconstructive surgery. Questions for Reading Passage-31) After reading the passage, what can you infer are maggots?2) Why did the patient in the reading need to try different treatment/s for her feet?3) How does the author compare antibiotic treatment versus maggot therapy?4) The passage uses the term “biotherapy”. Using the context of the reading, what does this term refer to?5) How were leeches used in ancient times, compared to modern times?6) What were some of the main points the author was trying to address in this reading?

Week of December 16-20Humanities Reading Passage - 1This Passage is adapted from an article in the New York Times “Pentagon Is Set to Lift Combat Ban for Women”. (C. 2013) By ELISABETH BUMILLER and THOM SHANKER. The New York Times. Published: January 23, 2013 WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is lifting the military’s official ban on women in combat, which will open up hundreds of thousands of additional front-line jobs to them, senior defense officials said Wednesday. The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women have frequently found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan; according to the Pentagon, hundreds of thousands of women have deployed in those conflicts. As of last year, more than 800 women had been wounded in the two wars and more than 130 had died. Defense officials offered few details about Mr. Panetta’s decision but described it as the beginning of a process to allow the branches of the military to put the change into effect. Defense officials said Mr. Panetta had made the decision on the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Women have long chafed under the combat restrictions and have increasingly pressured the Pentagon to catch up with the reality on the battlefield. The move comes as Mr. Panetta is about to step down from his post and would leave him with a major legacy after only 18 months in the job. The decision clearly fits into the broad and ambitious liberal agenda, especially around matters of equal opportunity, that President Obama laid out this week in his Inaugural Address. But while it had to have been approved by him, and does not require action by Congress, it appeared Wednesday that it was in large part driven by the military itself. Some midlevel White House staff members were caught by surprise by the decision, indicating that it had not gone through an extensive review there. Mr. Panetta’s decision came after he received a Jan. 9 letter from Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who stated in strong terms that the armed service chiefs all agreed that “the time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.” A military official said the change would be implemented “as quickly as possible,” although the Pentagon is allowing three years, until January 2016, for final decisions from the services. Each branch of the military will have to come up with an implementation plan in the next several months, the official said. If a branch of the military decides that a specific job should not be opened to a woman, representatives of that branch will have to ask the defense secretary for an exception. “To implement these initiatives successfully and without sacrificing our war-fighting capability or the trust of the American people, we will need time to get it right,” General Dempsey wrote.

It will be carried out during what the administration describes as the end of the American combat role in Afghanistan, the nation’s longest war. A copy of General Dempsey’s letter was provided by a Pentagon official under the condition of anonymity. The letter noted that this action was meant to ensure that women as well as men “are given the opportunity to succeed.” It was unclear why the Joint Chiefs acted now after examining the issue for years, although in recent months there has been building pressure from high-profile lawsuits. In November 2012 the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ban on behalf of four service women and the Service Women’s Action Network, a group that works for equality in the military. The A.C.L.U. said that one of the plaintiffs, Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar, an Air National Guard helicopter pilot, was shot down, returned fire and was wounded while on the ground in Afghanistan, but could not seek combat leadership positions because the Defense Department did not officially acknowledge her experience as combat. In the military, serving in combat positions like the infantry remains crucial to career advancement. Women have long said that by not recognizing their real service, the military has unfairly held them back. The A.C.L.U. embraced Mr. Panetta’s decision with cautious optimism. Ariela Migdal, an attorney with the A.C.L.U.'s Women’s Rights Project, said in a statement that the organization was “thrilled” by the decision, but added that she hoped it would be implemented “fairly and quickly.” Although in the past some Republican members of the House have balked at allowing women in combat, on Wednesday there appeared to be bipartisan endorsement for the decision, which was first reported by The Associated Press and CNN in midafternoon. “It reflects the reality of 21st century military operations,” Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. Questions for Reading Passage - 11. Who proposed lifting the ban on women in combat? 2. Based on the passage, what were the motives for lifting the ban on women in combat? 3. According to the passage, how long do the branches of military have to implement the change in policy? 4. Using the passage, hypothesize why the Joint Chiefs would act now on lifting the ban of women in combat? 5. Reread the last paragraph, explain the meaning of Senator Levin’s quote.

Week of February 10-14Humanities Reading Passage – 2This Passage is adapted from an article in the New York Times “Despite ‘Enormous Strides,’ Minorities Still Face Barriers, President Says”. (C.2013) By JON HURDLE and PETER BAKER. Published: August 23, 2013 SCRANTON, Pa. — President Obama declared on Friday that the United States had made “enormous strides” in race relations since the March on Washington 50 years ago, but said “institutional barriers” for African-Americans and other minorities still existed and must be overcome. Speaking at a town hall-style meeting at Binghamton University in New York, Mr. Obama said that even though there was less overt discrimination in modern society, the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow continued to afflict many in America. He said the economic troubles of recent years had exacerbated divisions across racial and class lines. “Fifty years after the March on Washington and the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, obviously we’ve made enormous strides,” Mr. Obama said in response to a question from a professor of African-American studies. “I’m a testament to it. You’re a testament to it.” He added that “we know that some discrimination still exists, although nothing like what existed 50 years ago.” “But,” he added, “let’s assume that we eliminated all discrimination magically with a wand, and everybody had goodness in their heart, you’d still have a situation in which there are a lot of folks who are poor, and whose families have become dysfunctional, because of a long legacy of poverty, and live in neighborhoods that are run-down and schools that are underfunded and don’t have a strong property tax base.” His solution, he continued, was to promote programs like an expansion of early childhood education and his latest effort to make college more affordable — including, he said, making law school two years instead of three. Such policies, he said, “help lift everybody,” and therefore “everybody will be better off.” Mr. Obama’s comments came just before many thousands of people will converge on Washington for several days of events commemorating the civil rights march of 1963 and the address by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. describing his dream of a day when people would be judged by their character, not their color. Yet he said that persistent poverty and the economic troubles of recent years had fueled fresh suspicion between groups of Americans. “We’ve seen that over the last couple of years the tendency to suggest somehow that government is taking something from you and giving it to somebody else, and your problems will be solved if we just ignore them and don’t help them,” Mr. Obama said. “And that, I think, is something that we have to constantly struggle against, whether we’re black or white or whatever color we are.” The meeting at Binghamton came on the second day of a two-day bus trip through New York and Pennsylvania to promote Mr. Obama’s proposals to make it easier for young Americans to afford a college education. He has proposed creating a federal rating system to allow parents and students to easily compare colleges and has urged Congress to link it to student aid. Wandering the stage in a blazer and slacks and wearing no tie, a relaxed Mr. Obama used the occasion to set the stage for a conflict with Congress this fall over spending. He argued that the falling deficit meant it was time to focus less on spending restraint and more on investing in programs like education, scientific research and Head Start.“We don’t have an urgent deficit crisis,” the president said. “The only crisis we have is one that’s manufactured in Washington, and it’s ideological. And the basic notion is that we shouldn’t be helping people get health care and we shouldn’t be helping kids who can’t help themselves and whose parents are under-resourced, we shouldn’t be helping them get a leg up.” Questions for Reading Passage - 2According to President Obama, what influences have exacerbated the divisions between races and social classes?

What is the author’s main point in the passage?

State the over all problem presented by President Obama in the passage?

According to the passage, what is the president’s solution to the problem?

Given the passage, hypothesize why funding education and research programs would help break racial barriers?

Week of March 17-21Social Science Reading Passage You might soon be paying more for your Pepsi of Sprite. That’s because two very different groups, for very different reasons, are pushing for soda taxes. Public health advocates, concerned about the impact of sugary drinks on the nation’s obesity problem, want soda to be more expensive so you’ll buy less of it. And states, trying to close the gaps in their budgets. Are looking at all kinds of taxes, including “sin taxes” – taxes intended to discourage undesirable behaviors. Politicians have always liked sin taxes because, at least in theory, they not only raise money but also do a social good. Since January 2009, 23 states have increased tobacco taxes. Seven states last year either enacted new taxes on alcohol or raised existing ones. And 25 states have legalized new forms of gambling or considered doing so to increase tax revenues. As for your soda, the District of Columbia in May approved a tax on soda and other drinks with added sugar. Colorado and Washington state approved taxes on soda and candy. Soda tax increases were also proposed in New York and Massachusetts but sis not pass. One reason politicians turn to sin taxes is that they often face less public opposition than other kinds of taxes. “It is more politically attractive to tax these kinds of things,” says Peter L. Faber, a tax lawyer in New York. “No one can get mad at you for taxing people who drink too much.” This isn’t the first time lawmakers have turned to sin taxes during hard times to raise money. Many historians say the desire to boost tax revenue during the Great Depression through a tax on alcohol was part of the motivation in 1933 for repealing the 18th Amendment, which had established Prohibition in 1919.Getting Creative Economists doubt that sin taxes greatly affect the behavior of most Americans, especially when the amounts tacked on are quite small (as they usually are). However, one of the lessons of the recent rise in cigarette taxes is that big price changes can lead to big behavior changes, even with an addictive product like tobacco. (This could be relevant in the soda-tax debate since teenagers – the biggest soda drinkers of all – are especially sensitive.) But, ironically, from an economic point of view, sin taxes that really succeeded in changing behavior would be self-defeating. “On some level, politicians want these taxes to affect behavior,” says Kim Rueben, who studies state and local taxes for the Urban Institute. “But they’re kind of in trouble if it works too well. If it’s actually effective in changing behavior, governments lose that revenue source.” Even if governments are more concerned with balancing their budgets than with our health, sin taxes do have social value, economists say.Costs of Obesity The argument for a soda tax or a “fat tax” on junk food is the same as the argument for a tax on tobacco or a tax on gasoline as a way to break our addition to oil and tackle global warming: When an activity imposes costs on society, economists say that the activity should be taxed. Doing so accomplishes two goals: It discourages the activity by making it more expensive, and it raises money to help pay society’s costs. In the case of soda and junk food, those costs come in the form of medical bills for diabetes, heart disease, and other side effects of obesity. We’re all paying these bills, via Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance premiums. Indirectly at least, obesity has become one of the causes of the federal government’s swelling long-term budget deficit. Harvard University economist Gregory Mankiw concedes that a significant soda tax might encourage better nutrition and be good for us in the long run, but he still has concerns. “Even as adults, we sometimes wish for parents to be looking over our shoulders and guiding us to the right decisions,” Mankiw wrote recently. “The question is, do you trust the government enough to appoint it your guardian?” Questions for reading passage 1. In paragraph 3, what does the author claim was the motivation to dissolve prohibition? 2. What is one reason politicians like sin taxes? 3. Who does the author imply pays for obesity in paragraph 6? 4. Who does the author suggest will be most affected by a tax on soda? 5. Which states have already approved soda taxes? 6. What are two potential outcomes of taxing an activity? 7. As used in paragraph 5, what does the word “imposes” mean? 8. List two “costs” of soda and junk food.

Week of April 7-11 Humanities Reading Passage - 3 I was a competitive cheerleader for five years and I have a very different opinion on this ruling stemming from a lawsuit by members of the Quinnipiac University women’s volleyball team who sued when the school disbanded the squad and replaced it with cheerleading. I began cheering my freshman year of high school and it immediately gave me a confidence I’d never had before. It also made me appreciate what it takes to succeed in a competitive, challenging and dangerous environment – and isn’t that the definition of a sport? The judge in the case wrote that “competitive cheer may, sometime in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX,” but that the activity is still too “underdeveloped and disorganized” to be treated as a genuine varsity sport, not a surprising opinion, based on what I’ve seen and heard. All through high school my squad and I constantly defended our sport. We believed it was just as difficult and strenuous as volleyball or field hockey, or even football or basketball. Other athletes would criticize and mock us; they were just some of those who didn’t take us seriously. The volleyball team judged us on how well our “spirit fingers” were, a cruel joke we heard from time to time. These critics obviously never went through one of our grueling practices or routines. Five days a week, for at least three hours each day, we practiced stunting (two or three girls throwing another member of our squad into the air where she performed a flip), dance routines, gymnastics (layouts, back hand-springs) and long stretches. The basketball, football and swim teams did not put nearly as much time into their daily practices as we did. You think football is dangerous? Think about flying 10 feet into the air and landing (hopefully) into the arms of a 100-pound girl. Cheerleaders risk paralysis or lifelong back or leg injuries, but will do anything to nail their stunts and routines, no matter how dangerous they may be. After being accepted into Syracuse University last year, I participated in a D1 cheerleading tryout. The three-day tryouts were extremely painful and challenging. The coaches for the college squad were looking for girls who were very advanced in gymnastics and stunting; they were looking for nothing less than greatness. If I had any doubts about whether cheerleading qualified as a sport, those three days quickly changed my outlook. I felt like I had a better chance of making the football team – maybe that squad would have been a little more accepting. For the past couple of years, competitive cheerleading has become extremely popular. ESPN now shows live competitions, along with movies and reality shows such as “Dunbar High School Cheerleading” and “Bring It On!” demonstrating the stress, danger and difficulties in cheerleading. Maybe that will help change perceptions. My message to the judge who ruled that cheerleading is not a sport is to try one stunt, perform a backflip while you soar into the air, and wait for two petite girls to catch you. And then get back to me.Questions 1. As it is used in paragraph 2, what does the word “disbanded” most likely mean? 2. As explained in the passage, why does a judge consider cheerleading to not be a sport? 3. What can you infer is the main argument of this passage? 4. What is the main point of paragraph 6? 5. According to the passage, what are some of the risks of being a cheerleader? 6. In your opinion, is competitive cheerleading a sport? Support your position with specific reasons and examples.

Week of May 5-9 Slumber by Numbers On the average school night, how many hours of sleep do you get? More than 12,000 high school students were recently asked that question during a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall answer: not enough. Studies have shown that teenagers really need at least nine hours of sleep, with eight hours considered a “borderline” acceptable amount. In the CDC study, however, only around 900 of the surveyed students reported getting the ideal amount, while an additional 2,800 reported averaging eight hours of shut-eye nightly. Danice Eaton, a research scientist at the CDC, led this most recent survey, which was part of what the agency calls a Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance. Every year, CDC scientists like Eaton ask high school students about behaviors that can harm their health. The questions are on topics such as nutrition, weapons, sex, and drug use--- and sleep. Sleeplessness, like other behaviors, carries a heavy toll. Scientists ask the survey questions to find a way to help people. Among people between the ages of 10 and 24, nearly three of every four deaths happen for one of the following reasons: motor vehicle accident, other accidents, homicide and suicide. Scientists like the CDC’s Eaton hope that by understanding the risky behaviors, like sleeplessness, that might contribute to these tragedies, they may be able to save lives. Also, without enough sleep, a person might have more trouble learning or exercising good judgment. Over time, people who regularly don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be obese (which means very overweight) or get sick with serious diseases, some studies have found. Other studies have shown that even one night with less sleep than needed can throw off the chemical balance of the body. Most students interviewed got much less than eight hours of sleep. Eaton and her team found that 30.2 percent, or about 3,600 students, sleep for only seven hours per night. About 2,700 students, or 22.8 percent , sleep only six hours per night. About 1,200 students, or 10 percent, reported sleeping five hours, and 5.9 percent, or 708 students said they slept for hours or less. The CDC’s study identified a problem—but not the cause. Why do teenagers sleep less than they should? Maybe many teens like to work and stay up late. (This can make it rough to get up for school the next morning.) A number of scientific studies suggest some other ideas, as well. Computer use may be a culprit: some scientists have found that the blue light given off by computer screen may interfere with the body’s internal biological clock—making it difficult to go to sleep. Other scientists have come up with new and interesting ways to help people who can’t sleep. Studies suggest, for example, that a person’s biological clock responds favorably to blue light that is the color of the sky. So perhaps people are biologically “set” to start their day when they see the sky—and when people see a blue computer screen, their bodies misinterpret the light as morning. Some research has shown that donning a pair of yellow glasses at night will block the blue wavelength. This allows people to become naturally sleepy, even after a ling night on the computer. Whatever the cause of too little sleep may turn out to be, the CDC’s effort to identify the problem is an early step toward finding a treatment. Once scientists understand the problem, they can design ways to solve it. 1. What percent of students were reported to be getting the ideal amount of sleep in the CDC study? 2. In people ages 10-24, what are ¾ of the causes of death? 3. What risky behavior contributes to the deaths? 4. What occurs with people who regularly do not get enough sleep? 5. What may be a culprit of students sleeping less? 6. What color does a person’s biological clock respond favorably to? 7. What happens when people see a blue computer screen?